Emily Wood – Artist Spotlight Co-ordinator & Social Media Assistant
Emily Wood – Artist Spotlight Co-ordinator & Social Media Assistant
Sitting at the heart of Involving Music’s Spotlight features, Emily Wood brings over 20 years’ experience across radio, television and digital media to tell the story of the region’s music scene. As Artist Spotlight and Social Media Co-ordinator, Emily handles every artist who comes through Involving Music, offering her expertise to bring their music to new listeners.
Do you have a favourite artist or genre?
It’s a bit of a broad genre, but guitar-based music has always been where it’s at for me. Folk-based or rock n roll, anything guitary always catches my ear. Saying that, one of my favourite artists is Tori Amos, who I’ve been listening to since my teens and she is amazing on piano (and she plays two pianos at once when she plays live!!)
Can you narrow down the BEST gig you’ve ever been to?
Seeing the aforementioned Tori Amos live for the first time at the Cambridge Corn Exchange a few years ago has to be one of my top gigs – my husband booked it for us as part of a weekend away and it was the most emotional and joyous experience to hear songs I’ve loved for so long finally played live. I also have to say that seeing Devon folk artist Cole Stacey is always a top gig for me – but I may be slightly biased, as he is my husband! But I do genuinely love to see and hear him play – he did an amazing gig at The Hall in Exeter recently, which is a beautiful room to hear music in. I also loved seeing him play at Beautiful Days last year, we popped into the festival for the day and the crowd there were great.
What do you find most exciting about supporting South West artists?
The fact that, despite the challenges faced by those already in and those just entering the music scene, artists and bands still carry on creating amazing, soul-touching music and putting on gigs so we can all feel part of something – and I’m always grateful and happy to be doing all I can to support that and keep the music playing.
What would you like to see more of in the South West scene?
More gigs during the day or at weekends, as I can’t always stay up as late as I used to! And I’d love to take my kids to see more live music that doesn’t involve them staying up past bedtime (though they’re always happy to stay up as late as possible!).
Andrew Bate – Copywriter
After 20 years as a writer, composer and performer, Andrew has joined the Involving Music team as one of our copywriters, offering a boots-on-the-ground perspective on the South West gigging scene from his position as one half of the award-winning duo, Saint Senara. Before joining Involving Music, Andrew was also a client, having previously created a Spotlight for his band. Andrew joined the team as he understood how the site could be used as an effective resource for independent bands like his and recognised a like-minded ethos towards supporting independent music.
Can you give us a memorable live music moment?:
Last year, I went to see Stephen Wilson Jr in Bristol and I remember thinking to myself that I was at a moment in history. I felt so lucky to see a performer of this calibre, at a relatively small venue, touring to support an album that was destined to become a classic, just before the whole world knew his name. Sure enough, a few months late,r he had the moment of the night at the 2025 CMAs and is becoming the next big thing. It was a very special show.
What music do you always come back to?:
When I get to the heart of it, the one that is at my foundation is folk music. I’m fascinated by how the stories of the people making the music shaped the sound that has become the cornerstones of the genre, like how many seafaring songs feature fiddles and mandolins because those were instruments small enough to fit on a ship. I find that if you get into the folk music of any culture, you will find the core of who those people are. That’s why I enjoy hearing so many independent artists; you get to discover who they are and what their world is like through their music.
What kind of stories do you love to tell?:
My guilty pleasure is ghost stories. I think that goes back to the aforementioned folk connection. One of Saint Senara’s most successful songs is a ghost story I wrote for a Cornish language song contest years ago. The theme was “What Cornwall Means to You”, and for me, growing up there, it was all myths and legends and folk tales, so I wanted to contribute to that tradition and wrote a supernatural murder ballad. But ultimately, I love telling any story that has passion at its centre. Because even when you can’t understand the circumstances of the setting, people will always understand the feelings at the heart of it. And audiences are smart. They can tell when something is real and they will respond in kind.
What do you think the South West does best musically?:
Community. I’ve come across so many bands in my travels and I’m so pleased to say that the South West has a noticeable lack of ego. Everyone’s very friendly and is keen to help each other. I think they get that for one band to thrive, we all have to thrive. My bandmate and I went as punters to last year’s Seven Hills Festival in Bath and ended up befriending three acts on the bill. We all spent the evening going around the festival together, making friends and now some of us are working together. That’s how a scene is built.
Suki Renbourn – Copywriter
Keeping one foot in the past with her love of retro music and the other in with the latest musical works of her community and the young people she works with, Suki bridges these two musical eras to inform her writing on the music scene of today. Due to her current work with Arts University Plymouth and Totnes-based youth music project Jamming Station, she is at the forefront of young people’s musical engagement. Based in Plymouth, on the borders of Cornwall and Devon, she gets to explore the music scene from two of the most vibrant regions in the South West, giving her a vast knowledge of the independent scene through her work in events management and promotion.
Who is your current favourite artist or what is your favourite track at that moment?
I listen to Melin Melyn religiously. Their track ‘Vitamin D’ from their debut album, released last March, has had a chokehold on me for almost the entire year. I saw them at The Cornish Bank last April and couldn’t have been more excited.
What’s been the best gig experience you’ve had?
Man, that’s such a hard one. But if I’m being genuine, every Pale Blue Eyes gig I’ve been to has shifted something deep inside me, and brings up all of my emotions. I feel ecstatic joy and pride for my friends in the band, and I feel every single depth of where their music comes from, and I can feel it all at the surface of my skin. It makes me emotional just thinking about it. Their music is amazing, and their stage presence is so fun. It makes me so happy.
What inspires you creatively and what shape does that creativity take?
I am absolutely inspired by my amazing surroundings. I get to walk through an Arts University as my job most days, where there is always something amazing happening! From pot-throwing to painting, to just how the light comes through the massive windows and fills up the white studio spaces.
Every end-of-term, the young musicians at Jamming Station hold a showcase, which I’ve coined the ‘Growing Louder Festival’, and it is always a really inspiring event. These young people are so cool, so talented and so free. It all inspires me to make, to express myself, to be present enough to enjoy it all.
What would you like to see more of from the South West scene?
I’d just like to see more solid support and funding for it. Everyone in the scene is working so, so hard to keep the music playing and often just for the pure love of it. There’s nothing more I could ask for from it, it’s so diverse and brilliant and shining and totally unique!
